Extraordinary £8 million price tag for Nat Phillips tells Celtic a story

The Celtic Star

·8 luglio 2024

Extraordinary £8 million price tag for Nat Phillips tells Celtic a story

The incredible £8 million price tag for Nat Phillips proves that EPL players are well out of Celtic’s reach.

16th September 2023 Celtic Park, Celtic versus Dundee Amadou Bakayoko of Dundee takes on Nat Phillips of Celtic Photo ActionPlus David Young

Nat Phillips, remember him? The centre back we had on loan from Liverpool last season. Nat was signed on loan due to a defensive crisis and was highly rated, but ultimately failed to impress and was back down the road after only a few months, making just eight first team appearances.

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Nat was to be blunt, a bit of a bomb scare. He didn’t exactly fill you with confidence and looked like a fish out of water in the fast paced physical world of Scottish football. He very much made Shane Duffy look like Paolo Maldini.

Photo: Andrew Milligan

His performance in the 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock last December still gives us all nightmares, and unsurprisingly Nat was sent packing back down to Liverpool just a few weeks later.

Nat is reportedly attracting interest with Trabzonspor keen to sign the Englishman, having a £4m offer rejected. Apparently it would cost the Turkish side a whopping £8 million, a fee which would be a record fee for the club to sign the Liverpool centre back. Surely they wouldn’t, would they?

Natl Phillips of Liverpool FC reacts during the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final match between Real Madrid and Liverpool FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on April 06, 2021. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

Trabzonspor did sign John Lundstram and Borna Barisic so I wouldn’t rule it out. Let’s be clear £8 million for Nat Phillips is complete and utter crazy. It is of the scale. It is sheer madness, and showcases the crazy inflated price tags that engulfs the world of English game, particularly the EPL.

It also proves that Celtic as a club are unable to compete in that market. If Nat Phillips is valued at £8 million then we have no hope of even window shopping in that environment and should discount it completely.

If Phillips is worth £8m then getting Scott McKenna on a free is a deal that’s not to be sniffed at in comparison. If the choice was Phillips or McKenna for the same money – or both on a free – and you had to sign one, who would you choose? McKenna every day of the week for me.

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